Automatic scraper control for rotogravure printing-presses.



J. .0, YETTER. AUTOMATIC SCRAPER CONTROL FOR ROTOGRAVURE PRINTING PRESSESL 7 APPLICATION map 050.20; 1915;

'r-Patenid 051;. 17,1916.

JOHN. dynr'rnn, or cHrcaso, ILLINOIS. v

memes.

3 To all whom z'tmay 50 m -Be a known that L'Jorliv c. has, an:

'zen of the United States, residing atChicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, 'haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in-Automatic Scraper Control for Rotogravure Printing-Presses; and I do hereby declare the following to bee. full,

I clear, and exact'des'cription of the invention,

such as will enable others skilled in the. art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

so-cjalled rctogravure prmting presses. In

byfa copper cylinder,-the face ofv whichis en'- gravedor etched, so that allof the outermost face portions of the illustrationon the face of the cylinder are perfectly smooth, and are '20 intendedjand. adapted to be entirely devoid of ink, the latter being contained 1n the etched out or recessed portions and being thus applied to thepaper ,1n varying depths to reproduce the pictorial illustrations. The printing ink, which isrelatively fluent, is fed to this cylinder by-means. of a printing roller in. relatively large quantities and the surplus is then scraped off by'meansof a steel scraper knife having avery sharp edge of the cylinder and which is reciprocated'in' disposed parallelwith the aXisof rotation Z the direction of said axis. The purpose of thisscraper is to remove all the ink from the outermost surfaces of the etched surface of'the-copper cylinder. In the-operation of these presses it becomes 'neccssary sometimes to reverse the direction of rotation of the said copper cylinder. and, unless care is exercised to first throw thesaid scraper knife out of engagement with the surface of the cylinder, the slightestreverse moyement of the ,latter will cause the sharp edge of the steel knife to diginto and score the surface of the 3 cylinder and thus. renderthe' latter unfit for further use. The. reverse movement spokenv of may be occasioned by thefact that a'shct is not properly fed to the press, or the cylinder may be rotated backward in adjusting the press preparatory to operation, or the press may be accidentally started in the wrong direction. As this reverse movement frequently occurs, the object of my present invention is to provide meansfor automatically throwing the scraper knife out of en-' gagement with the copper cylinder as soon as the .press is stopped, and maintaining. it

g Specification of Letters Patent: Application filed December 20, 1915. Serial-No. 67,885. I I

This invention'relates to improvements in this character of pressesthe printing is done" I Patented Ocui'X', 1916.-

.- out of'engagem'ent therewith movement.

While various kinds of power may be utilized for automatically lifting the I knifeI have preferred to illustrates form of my 1nvent1on in which I make use of elcctricity for such purposeq I In'the accompanying drawings illustratmg a sultable'embodiment of the invention; lfigure 1 is a fragmentary view in side elevation 'of a rotogravureflprinting press equ pped during reverse with automatic scraper-s knife" actuating means constructed in"accordance with my invention. Fig. -2 "is' a frag,-

mentary detail vertical longitudinal sectional .view showing the scraper knife actuating mechanism and the electric circuit control hug the same.

detail view in knife;

Fig. '3 is a fragmentaryg end elevation showing the mechanism for reciprocating the said scraper Fig. .4- is a fragmentary detail plan view'showing the said means for-re-l vciprocating the scraper knife.

in-g press is shown as carrying the. impres Insaid drawings the fram'e l of the pa t,

- drier roll 30, a pair of del very rolls 31 and '32 and ajdeliverybelt 33, constitute nopart of the they will, therefore, cally: described, such being. fully describedcopending lDe'cembei" 20, 1915,

but as such parts not .be herein spec ifi present invention.-

mechanism, however,v and illustrated in my 1 application for patent filed Serial No, 67,886.- As sociated with the said printing .roll 3 isaninking roll 4 which projects into a. pan or vat 5 adapted tocontain the printing ink which is carried 11 plied to the surfa M ount ed ona rock ings on the frame o'f the machine, is the hub pward-by the inking roll and ap-;. ce lofthe printing roll.

shaft 6 journaled in bear',

7 of a scraper knife supporting plate'8 to which the; scraper [cured by means of the set"s.crews -1'0. The saidhub 7 is-keyed upon the shaft 6 by the key 7 and is adapted to be reciprocated onthe'shaft 6 and is oscillated with the latter. The reciprocatory movement is imparted to said hub 7 by means of the lever 11 pivotail y secured between its'ends to the projection li'2 on the frame of the machine and which is tit one end, equipped with an anti-friction rol" -fr engaging in the eccentric cam-grod'vc in mile face of a horizontally disposed disk 13 mounted on a projection '14 on, a horizontal rail of the frame of the machine. lever is adapted to be rocked, a

l l l i 1 l 1 knife 9' is removabl'y se- A obvious, and is equipped in its other forked end'15 withanti-friction rollers engaging in an annular groove in one end of the hub 7 of the knife-support, thus imparting'to the lat- 5 ter a reciprocatory'movement in 'a direction parallel to the axis 'of rotation of the printingroll 3. The shaft 6 is adapted, as aforesaid, to be rocked in its bearings, the hub 7 being keyed thereon. Said shaft is provided )0 at one end with an arm 16 extending parallel with and in alinement with the said knife blade carrier 8. Said arm 16 is pivotally and slidably connected with oneend of a plunger having alongitudinal slot in said end in .15 which a 'c'rank-pinatthe end of the a'rnrlG engages, The said plunger 17 is pivotally connected at its other end .with one end of one of a pair of toggle levers ls'pivotally connected with. each other, and the other ends of which have a limited sliding pivotal connection \rith the frame of the machine. 011 said plunger 17 1s a'collar 19 wh ch 1s adapted to engage one end of the guide 20 for said plunger to limit the movement of the latter in one direction. Disposed above the said toggle levers a solenoid 21m the reciprocable armature 22 of which one end of a connecting-rod 23 is 'pivotally secured,

the other end of said rodbeing pivotally reconnected withthe toggle levers at their point of pivotal connection with each other. .The weight of the armature serves. to normally maintain, the'toggle levers in the position shown in full lines in Figs. l and 35 2-, but does not act to hold the edge of the knife 10in contact with the surface of the cylinder 3. Upon closing thev electric circuit through, the solenoid, the said arma turewillbe raise'd,thus causing a relative movement of the toggle levers to throw them into the position shown in dotted lines in F ig. 2, thereby moving-the plunger connected with the arm 16 'outwardy androcking said shaft 6, thereby throwing the knife edge out of contact withthe face of thecylinder '3. It will be noted that the initialoutward movement of the plunger 17 is free and does not impart 'motion to the-arm 16 until the end of the slot in said plun-. ger engages the pin" of said arm, the pur-.

pose-of this being to avoid interferencewith the. action of weights 214E suspended from arms 25 at theends of the shaft 6 which serve to hold the-knife edge normally in contact with the cylinder surface with a uniform pressure.

g The circuit through the 'electro-magnet is auxiliary to the circuit controlling the mo- .tor driving the press. The last-namedcirco cuit, which is not illustrated herein, is controlled by the switch having a plurality of contact points 26, 27' and.'28, the contact point 26 being 'a dead point which, when engaged'by-the switch lever 29, shuts oh? the at circuit through .the motor, thus stopping edge cutting into the latter by reversing 7 point 26 to stop the motor, the circuit through the solenoid will be closed, thereby causing-the scraper knife to be thrown out of engagement with thesurface of the printing cylinder, and is further so arranged that said 'circuit will remain closed during the movement'ofthe switch lever 29 in a direc tion to effect a reverse movement of the press. Said strip is further so arranged that the moment the switch lever 29 is moved to 5 contact with the first of the contact points 27 the circuit through. the solenoid will be opened, thus permitting the armature to drop and thereby throwing the knife into Q contact with the surface of the cylinder.

The current for. the solenoid circuit above described may be the same as that controlling the motor, or it may be an independent source such as a battery circuit.

It will be understood, of course,

above described is merely the preferred em-' bodiment .of. the invention; The latter resides broadly in the provision of meansfor automatically throwing the scraper knife out of engagement with the surface of the printing roll prior to the beginning of any 7 j reverse movement of the latter, thus' preventing the scoring or' injury to the printing roll which would result from the knife said. printing roll while said knife is engaged with the surface" thereof. .Hence, while the drawings show an electrically actuated press and 'knife'throw mechanism, 1 0 the switch-lever 29 may be regarded mei ly as a hand-lever controlling the movemei ts of the press and which is common to the re- .versing'gear and the knife, regardless of the nature of the press-drive.

I claim as my invention 1. In a printing press equipped with a printing cylinder, means for applying ink to the cylinder surface, and a scraper for removing surplus ink from the cylinder sur- 12o face, amanua'lly operable part controlling the" forward and reverse movements of the press, and operative connection between the said manually operable part and said scraper for automatically throwing the lat- 125.

. ter out of engaging relation to the cylinder.

surface before said manually operable part attains'a position adapted to cause reverse movement of the press. I

2. In a power actuated printing press 139 g the 95 embodiment illustrated in the drawings and means controlled by said lever for autm 1 0. In a printing 1 matically throwing the scraper out of contact with the printing cylinder before said lever attains a position adapted to cause"1'e verse movement of the-press and for maiiv taining said scraper in engagement with said cylinder during manual rotation of the latter. r

press equipped with a rot Mable printing cylinder, meiins fer-fem? ing ink thereag, and. a scraper for rempving surplus ink tiierelrom, and 'meansfor lifting said scraper fyee cf the cylinder, and controlling meansifor causing the lifting means to operate in advance of any reverse rota @1011 cf {the printing cylinder.

. In' testimony-whereof I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing wit- 1 nessesi JOHN G; YETTER. Witnesses: i

M. M. BOYLE, G. M. WA KER, J 1-. 

